The Trump campaign dismissed a number of editorial boards at major news publications that have announced their support for impeaching President Trump.
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote this week on two articles of impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. It will then go to the Senate for a trial, where it’s expected to be dismissed quickly.
Recommended Stories
The Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the New York Daily News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and USA Today have all called for Trump to be impeached based on the articles.
“Pity liberal editorial writers. They have never recovered from Election Day 2016,” Tim Murtaugh, Trump 2020 communications director, told the Washington Examiner on Saturday.
The New York Times‘ board, which endorsed Trump’s impeachment on Saturday, described the president requesting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden as a “textbook example of an impeachment offense,” arguing that it’s exactly “as the nation’s framers envisioned it.” They also pointed to the White House’s decision not to participate in the House’s inquiry, alleging that that decision “left Congress with no choice but to press ahead to a Senate trial.”
A different Trump campaign representative noted the New York Times editorial board did not support President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998. In the editorial’s piece, they argued that a “polarized party-line vote” would “assault the Constitution.” They warned that such an impeachment could set a dangerous precedent and noted that “presidents stay in office unless the case against them is so strong that it persuades at least a substantial part of the public — and their representatives in Congress — on the grounds specified by the Constitution.”
Editorial boards from 115 newspapers supported impeaching Clinton after the release of independent counsel Ken Starr’s report. The New York Times‘s decision not to back impeachment came two months after the report was released publicly.
While some have supported Trump’s removal from office, a multitude of publications in more moderate areas who endorsed Hillary Clinton appear more skittish to support impeachment, according to Politico.
